Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-02-03
CRUELTY OF THE PERsIANs.
All sorts Of Wiokedness Concealed Under
AThin Veneer of Hospitality.

All sorts Of Wiokedness Concealed Under
AThin Veneer of Hospitality.
Under a thin veneer OF good nature,
hospitality and p%OliteneSS the modern
Persian cOnceals every one OF the seven
deadly sins. Ii is a significant fact that
no words corresponding to II love, graft
tude, virtue, honor, patriotism, conscience
or pcnitence exists in his language. The
words serving as substitutes have alto
gether different meanings. "Iakewah
means picty or rather observance Of the
rltualIstic laws; hummer" means not hon
or but smartness and cunning; "nemeki
haelal'' and ''nemcki haeram' literally,
good salt and bad salt only refers to the
rules of hospitality; ''peshimani'' is not
penitence hut grief at the n~On-SuccesS OF
an enterprise, and ''ishk" is not love but
the only feeling the Persian knows under
that name.
Like NEST towards the Persian is fond
OF inhicting pain where he may do so safe
IT,. Cruelty seems Unborn with him. !
have seen children of both sexes stOning a
pOOr cur to death and literally hacking a
miserable cat to pieces Just for the fun OF
the thing, and without any interference
from. often even with the active co opera.
ton of, the parent. The death penalty is
usually executed with 4 view of making
The culprit undergo the most horrible tor
lures and OF atlOrding a welcome sight to
the callous populaCe.
On the KOOp Kapu in Teherdn, the
square in the heart of the city where tn,
executions usually take place, Il half score
II delinuuentS are often placed oil tn,
raised platform s~uTmOunted by Il pol,
PAINTED a brilliant scarlet hue, and in full
sight of the rabble they have their thrOat,
cut, their hearts torn out, their ears AIT
noses lit, their tongues pulled ont, thei'
eyes scared, or boiling pitch poured over
| their naked bodies to every body's greaI
delight except that of the parties directly
concerned. Along the highways on,
! meets, stuck in the ground, short, hollow
pillars with the upper opening closed W Il
gympsum. Each OF these contains a man
a condemned criminal walled up alive
Faint groans may often be heard by pas
Sersby, for this mode of death is slow IN,
very painful, but nobody thinks it WORT
his while to hberate the poor wretch or Il
terminate his sulleringS by 4 mcrciiu
blow. "Kismet!' they say, "such
fater' Very much depends at execution
upon the hangman. A brihe to him or tb
guarantee that Il qualification will he pal,
him by the friends of the condemned maj
after his deTth always insure a more or les
speedy death and decrease of the torture
otherwise inflicted.
But woe to the poor delinquent VIII,
| either has no more means LETT to buy TIN
rood offices of the eXecutiOner or els
| chooses to make ovee his last few toman
to his family-he will surely rue it in hi
last hour and made to suffer twice u
acutcly rs would otherwise he the case
There were, for instance, four criminal
hanged up by their feet and nailed to tn
boards outside the gates OF Tcheran les
than a year ago who could be seen ther
slowly dying for thirty-SiN hours. \ vel
spent bride to the eXecutiOner would hav
shortened their troubles, and 1t RENAME
finally for one of the diplomatic corps t
bestow a few krauS to have these unluck
malefaCtOrs put out of their misery. Th
average Persian will look entirely III
moved on a spectacle of human suffering
There is no chord in his nature to respon
to an appeal for mercy. Money alone WI
induce him to take compassion on anotht
mans pain.-UOt ron SchierbrdRd'